Self-sealed package and method of producing



Oct. 10, 1950 H. JENETT SELF-SEALED PACKAGE AND mamon o1-" PRODUCING Filed July 2, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR HE/VkYJ'E/VE? 7. g 6% w ATTORNEY Oct, 10, 1950 H. JENETT SELF-SEALED PACKAGE AND METHOD OF rnonucmc Filed July 2, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR f/E/VEY JEA/Efl.

ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 10, 1950 SELF-SEALED PACKAGE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING Henry Jenett, Montclair, N. J.; Caroline Louise Maria Jenett executrix of said Henry Jenett,

deceased Application July 2, 1946, Serial No. 681,082

The present invention relates to the packaging of materials in plastic foils, and is especially directed to improvements in the application of such packaging materials in the liquid form and to the self-sealed packages thus formed.

In the packaging industry it is now well known to apply strip-coating compositions directly to articles or packages requiring protection from moisture, noxious fumes, oxidation or corrosion caused by atmospheric changes or any other deleterious conditions, such for example as unsanitary handling, as well as from abrasion and ordinary wear and tear encountered in transit or in storage. The skin-tight coverings resulting from the application of the above referred to compositions directly to the article have numerous advantages over the older methods of packaging protection employing specially treated wrappers such as parchmentized, waxed, glassined, or resinated papers, or foils derived from chemically treated or regenerated cellulose, or those derived from various types of modified rubber or of synthetic elastomers and the like.

The direct application of protective materials to the articles offers not only a great saving in material but it cuts down the volume of air surrounding the packaged item to a minimum, thereby reducing the corrosion and oxidation hazards; it saves shipping and storage space as well as giving full dimensional visibility and enhancing the appearance of the article. Moreover, such direct application of the protective film eliminates the leakage caused by imperfect seams or bulky corners and, last but not least, it obviates the necessity of employing elaborate wrapping and sealing machinery, required for the use of prefabricated envelopes, bags, tubes or similar wrappers.

The strip-coating media most commonly used in the direct application of packaging materials in liquid form fall into three general categories as follows:

(1) Hot melts, consisting of plastic compositions, comprising varying proportions of cellulose esters or ethers, plasticizers, oils, waxes, gums or resins, colorants and other modifying agents, all of the components being substantially non-volatile in character, the masses becoming liquid upon the application of the relatively high temperature at which they are applied and solidifying on the articles upon cooling.

(2) Liquid coatings, comprising various proportions of plastic matter as above described and of volatile organic solvents, the compositions re maining liquid at room-temperature and forming 9 Claims. (01. 206-46) overcome the wicking action. When metallic filafilms or solid coatings on the articles upon the evaporation of the solvents.

(3)Reversible gels, comprising varying proportions'of plastic matter and volatile solvents, the compositions being liquefiable at moderate temperature and reverting from this liquid state to a transitory gel stage upon application to the articles, then forming solid coherent films, upon the evaporation of the solvents.

All three types of these above enumerated stripcoating media have the faculty of knitting, i. e., adhering to themselves whenever seams over-lap, which property is generally taken advantage of in the s-o-called double-dipping process, consisting of immersing one end of the article or package in the coating medium and then dipping the other end to form an over-lapping seam. Wherever seams are undesirable, too costly, or not feasible for any reason whatever, the so-called single-dip method may be resorted to, the article being Suspended from a cord or any other suitable support and immersed in toto, care being taken that the support be coated aswell, part of the way at least, in order to insure a good seal at the point of contact of the latter with the article.

However, this particular'method of packaging is subject to certain inherent disadvantages, principally because of the wicking action of the commonly used fibrous cords, which will carry moisture to the coated article. Even plastic strands which are sometimes substituted cannot entirely ments are substituted, the Wicking action is minimized but there is the difference of contraction and expansion to contend with. Furthermore, since such filaments are fairly rigid, they result in jarring of the seal with frequent breakage thereof when-the article is handled.

It is accordingly the primary object of the present invention to provide a self-sealing method of packaging articles of any configuration.

Another object of the present invention isthe provision of a method for dip coating an article of any desired configuration to form a self-sealed package.

Another object of the present invention is the method of single-dipping an article to form a com- I pletely sealed package, wherein the seal is maintained under all conditions until deliberately Still further objects of the present invention will become obvious to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of an article such as a piston ring having a self-sealed protective coating in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line IIII of Figure 1. i

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line IIIIII of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an elevational view showing a por- 1 tion of the equipment used ,in one step of the method of the present invention of fabricating a self-sealed packaged article.

Figure 5 is an elevational view of a portion of the apparatus used in anotherstepin the-fabri- 5 cation of a self-sealed packaged article such as that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of another form of apparatus which may be employed in.

performing one step in the fabrication of a selfsealed; packaged article such asthe piston ring of Figure 1.

, Figure 7 is a view partly in cross-section of an articlesuch as a pluraity of roller bearings to wi hich a self-sealed protective-coating is applied picked up by the detent I2, since the coating thereon in no way affects the magnetic field of the magnet l0, and the ring 5 is then immersed in toto in the coating material, which may be within the same tank I4, or in a somewhat larger tank I5 as shown in Figure 5, to a point above the lowerend'otthe detent 12'. Upon removal from the tank. I 5,.the deterit: I2 is" retracted from the sleeve thus formed leaving the tab 8 shown in Figure l, the precoating on the base of the de-' tent, which initially. constituted an intermediate layer, now forming an integral part of the entire coating on the piston ring 5 and a self-seal for-the latter at thepoint of contact of the support with the coated article.

In lieu of predipping of the support I may utilize an endless, conveyor l6, as shown in Figure 6, with such conveyor being provided with suitable fasteners I? to retain the piston rings 5 in a vertical position. During movement of the conveyorrwith the rings in position. thereon, the latterpass b'eneathia hopper or'the likesl8 which containsrai quantity of the coating :material 19 of any. ofxth'etypes abovementioned. As. each such ring 5 passes a droplet :20 of the coating'material. i9.-gravitates to the. outer peripheral surface of the ring where :it sets .up sufficiently before.reachi-. ing :thelmagnet 2 I 'to .formxa relatively thincpatch' 22 isotthat .thatmagnet togetherwith .its vdetent l 23Zpicks up the ring 5 at the point ofethe patch. 22.

such as spheres and glass lenses, together with a support which may be used for providing a selfsealedpro'tectivecoating thereon, in accordance withithepr'esent invention.

Referring now to the drawings in detail there is hown Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, an article coated with a self-sealed protective plastic coating such as a piston Iririg It will be observed particularly from Figures 2 and 3 that the entire surface of the piston ring 5 i's 'enshrouded with.

a protec 've coatings of uni form thickness which the cu stomaryoil groove 71. In addition 5 fibes a S a t b .8 f l ies oms1 we led during t mersmeot. the piston. ring but the orifice or recess 9 ;within,

iqlfi a fd gs; t nd. t th surfa of. the

ring but on the contrary the, uniform thickness,

rodor the like .I2,,is,.held by the. magnetv and immersed ior apart of its length in the coating material, 1 3 .within a suitable tank-.14, as. shown in Figure .4. Thismaterial [3 may be any of the stripecoating mediaabove referredto, esg. a hotmelt compound based on cellulose aceto-buty- (l5 rate,,plasticizer and colorants, or it maybe a lacquer but .p ieferably. it is one. of the types of U strippable coatings described and claimed inmy copending, application. Serial No- 628,381, filed November 13, 1945,;now abandoned. After withv drawal from the. coatingbath, the supporting :rod or detent I2 will thus have a coating of the same material and thickness as desired for the com-- pleted article.

The article such as the piston ring 5 is then abri a the. S lf-sealed protege 554 The suspended ring is. then immersedwith-in-the ooatingxtankl i containing the same type of. ma

terial25ias that withinthehopper 18 and :after withdrawal from therta'nkan'd suitable setting. of the compoundthedetent 23 .isl retracted, If the. article has beendipped to"-the-level of thel-lpatch 22, a smooth surfaced completely self-sealed ar ticle is obtained. However,- if.the recessed,tab-8- is'd'esired the articleimay be :dippedto a point' above the, patch Hate-provide atab of any desired; length;

Although a permanent or electric magnet'has been shown and described as the su-pport for the article-tobe coated it will be appreciated=that such typeof support is restricted to magnetizabl'e article's; However, for non-magnetic-materia'ls' lmayemploy a support providing sufiicient s'uc- 1 tion: to hold the weight of the article'tobe-eoated g on the other hands'to coat a finely machined bearing it orthe like as shown in Figure 7, or anyother oddly shapedarticle, 'either'metallic or otherwise; a thin steel. wire or the like-2'!- '-is'-first coated-with a-s'trip'pable coating28 of any of the type above mentioned; Thebear-ing -26-or simia liar article is then supportedon this coated wire 2-8. either singularly orin multiple,- andimmersedin: thedip-tank-containing the coating comp'osi-' tion. When removed therefrom and upon -siet-' ting, a uniform seam-less protective coating is produced- The supportingwire 21 can then-be withdrawn, as shown by the arrow-in Fig-ure 7, leavinga fine tubular channel 29 which is an integral-part of the envelope ienshrouding the bearing 26 -or' other article-which leaves no bare spot where the article and c'oated- -supporting wire' contacted, thus. again forming a self-sealedpackaged articlec In-instanceswhere continuous-dipping or r'ela-ftivel y' hea'vyarticles-such as gears or the like is"- de'sired the operation as illustrated-in Figure 8 i may be resorted to. For example; a conveyorin" the forr n'of'an endlesschain3-2 passes around suitably positioned sprockets 33 Extending lat erally' of the chain are a plurality of loops 34 which are engaged bypartially precoated hooks" aeesg-ass coated gears together with theirr'espectivej hooks 35 are removed from the dis-charge end'of the conveyor chain 32 at which point they have the appearance as shownin Figure 9. The hook 35 is then retracted again leaving a sleeve which is integjral with the envelope and forming a self -'seal at'the point where' theprecoated hook 35 and the ring gear 36 contacted. F

Similar methods may be employed for supporting other oddly shaped articles such as spheres, glass lenses or fine Wire springs, nail files, hacksaw blades and the like such as shown in Figure 10. By utilizing precoated wires or tubes 41 as a support, the various articles such as a glass lens 42 or ball 43 can be individually or continuously dipped by supporting them on the precoated wires or tubes, and feeding the articles through the dipping tank and the wire or tube subsequently withdrawn. The hollow sleeve 44 thus remaining in no way interferes with the continuity of the resulting protective coating on the article which is self-sealed and will serve as tear-tabs.

From the foregoing it should be obvious that a self-sealed strippable coating is herein provided which completely enshrouds substantially any article irrespective of size or shape. Moreover, such self-seal is fabricated by initially interposing a layer of the strippable material between the support and the article supported thereby, which layer subsequently becomes an integral part of the coating enshrouding the article. Although several types of coating composition have been herein referred to, the method of self-sealing packaged articles in accordance with the present invention is applicable whether the coating composition be of the hot-melt, lacquer, or reversible gel type, whether it be applied by dipping, brushing, spraying or any other manner of application, and whether the coating be intended for decorative, protective or any other purpose, so long as the direct contact between article and supporting or holding device is prevented by the interposition of a layer of compound, which subsequently becomes an integral partof the coating, thus obviating the need of a separate subsequent step of patching, covering, sealing, or otherwise closing the bare spot where the article and the support contacted.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described it is to be understood that still further modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

I claim: v

1. The method of packaging articles comprising disposing an intermediate layer of coating material for the article to be coated between the article and the support therefor and over a small area approximating that of the contacting surface of the support allowing the intermediate layer to set-up over the small surface area of contact, coating the article carried by the support with the coating material to a level above the point of contact between the intermediate 6 layer andlthearticle tocaus'e the coating to unite with the intermediate layer and form a selfsealedprotective single layer coating completely enshrouding the article. l

2. The methodlof packaging; articles comprising, disposing an intermediate layer of coating material for the article tobe coated between the article and the support thereforand over a small area approximating that of the contacting surface of the support .allowing the intermediate layer to set-up over suchsmall surface area of contact,

and coating the article carried by the support with the coatingmaterial to the level of the intermediate layer'to cause the latter to unite with the coatingv material and form a self-sealed protective single layer coatingmaterial and formqa. self-sealediprotective single layer coating of sub;- stantially uniform thickness Q completely-g5 enshrouding the article, I

3. The method of packagingarticles compris-- ing disposing an intermediate layer of coating; material for the article, to be coatedbetweenithe. article and the support therefor andover a-smalle. area approximating that of the contacting surface 'of the support allowing the intermediate; layer to set-up over such small surface area of contact, and coating the article carried by the: support with the coating material to the level off the intermediate layer to cause the latter to, unite with the coating material and form a self-sealedl protective single layer coating of substantially uniform thickness completely enshrouding' the: article, and stripping the coating from, the sup'-- port.

4. The method of packaging articles:- commas-- ing immersing the support for the articles: to;=bee coated for at least a portion of itsilengthz im the coating material to form an intermediate layer.- of coating material between the support and the: article, immersing the article suspended by the support in the coating material to a level above the intermediate layer to cause the latter to unite with the coating material and form a selfsealed protective coating of substantially uniform thickness completely enshrouding the article, and stripping the coating from the support.

5. The method of packaging articles comprising interposing a quantity of coating material between the article to be coated and a support therefor and over'a small area approximating that of the contacting surface of the support to prevent direct contact therebetween, allowing the intermediate layer to set-up over such small surface area of contact, and immersing the article depending from the support into the coating material to form a protective single layer coating of substantially uniform thickness completely enshrouding the article and which is self-sealed between adjacent surface areas of the article and the support.

6. The method of packaging articles comprising applying a coating of material to a support for at least a portion of its surface, suspending a plurality of the articles to be coated from the support, passing the articles with the coated portion of the support through the coating material at a level above the coated area of the support to form a self-sealed protective coating of substantially uniform thickness completely enshrouding each article, and withdrawing the support from its partial coating.

7. A package comprising an article having a seamless protective coating of strippable thermoplastic materlal of substantially uniform thick ness completely enshrouding said article, and

piiovidedgwitha hollow; projectioirzformingaiself-f sealed-tabiwithnonezwall of :said hollowtab con.- stituting. thesingle;v thickness coating,- on said article. a i

8; A package comprising aplurality of devices having a substantially uniform coating of strippableplastic. material. completely enshrouding each device andinterconnectedby atube of the same strippable material as'the coating enshroude ing each device, a portion'of the wall of said tube being integral with and: forming a part of? the coating enshrouding- 'each -device, to form a selfseal for each device of the-complete package 9.- A package comprising: a plurality of devices each having asubstantially uniform coatingof strippable plastic material enshrouding it and each device being interconnected by azhollow: tube of 'the same strippable material as the coating enshrouding each device, a portion'offthewall of said tube being integral with Vandforming a part of the coating-enshroudingieach device to form a self-seal therefor and adapted'ito form a;-tear tab for stripping the coating from each device when-the. latter is; separated from the remaining devlcestof the complete-package: V V

JENETEH REEERENCES CITED The-following refer-encesare of recordinthe the of this-patent? UNITED-STATES PATENTS Name: Date Thompson 1 Mar. 3, 1931 Number.

Mallory July, 14,- 1942 Redlinger V Nov.- 9, 19%3 OTHER; REFERENCES: 

8. A PACKAGE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF DEVICES HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM COATING OF STRIPPABLE PLASTIC MATERIAL COMPLETELY ENSHROUDING EACH DEVICE AND INTERCONNECTED BY A TUBE OF THE SAME STRIPPABLE MATERIAL A THE COATING ENSHROUDING EACH DEVICE, A PORTION OF THE WALL OF SAID TUBE BEING INTEGRAL WITH AND FORMING A PART OF THE COATING ENSHROUDING EACH DEVICE, TO FORM A SELFSEAL FOR EACH DEVICE OF THE COMPLETE PACKAGE. 